A new provision criminalising same-sex sexual acts was signed in to law by the Interim President of Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, on 25 September. The law was adopted by the unelected transitional parliament on 1 September.
The enacted text differs from earlier publicised drafts of the law. It explicitly criminalises ‘homosexual acts or similar practices,’ as well as ‘behaviour likely to promote homosexual and similar practices,’ with penalties of two to five years’ imprisonment, and fines of up to 10 million CFA francs.
It is a deplorable development that the military regime in Burkina Faso has criminalised private, consensual, human rights protected conduct. In a world where the number of criminalising countries has significantly reduced over the past decade, this is a deeply regressive move that is part of a worrying trend in Francophone Africa
With this development, 65 countries worldwide now criminalise consensual same-sex intimacy, according to the Human Dignity Trust. A detailed country profile on Burkina Faso is available on our website.
Learn more about the amended Persons and Family Code, which inserts this new provision (Article 210-3) criminalising same-sex sexual act, here.
